Ginkōgō Kusahara VII
“''Courage, wisdom, and rationale weaved into a fine blade of heaven...”'' —Somnium Fluxus Ginkōgō Kusahara VII '(草原銀皇后七, ''Kusahara Ginkōgō VII), also referred to by her adoptive name of '''Urara Kusahara (草原銀草原麗, Kusahara Urara) or her birth name of Constance (かんすてんす, Kansutensu), is an Echt Quincy who once served Wandenreich as a regular Soldat during the organization's war against Soul Society one-thousand years ago, during which she eventually affiliated herself with the Wandenreich Vanguard, Aufklärung, under the leadership of Roshan Bamshad. As a member of Aufklärung, Ginkōgō participated in one of the first assaults against Soul Society during the first war; she was eventually defeated and left for dead. Ginkōgō's life was saved by the man hailing from a lesser branch of the Kusahara Clan she would later know as her adoptive father. She is the current Captain of the Tenth Division, with Asuka Shimizu serving as her Lieutentant, and leader of the Kusahara Clan, as well as the former Lieutenant of the Third Division, serving under Rikuri Ukitake. During her time alongside Rikuri, she temporarily associated herself with the Ukitake Clan. She is the only Quincy acting as a Capain and one of the few officers without a Zanpakutō of any sort. Completely oblivious to the true nature of both her clan and herself, Ginkōgō spent the vast majority of her life living peacefully alongside her new family. Following the disappearance of her adoptive sister, Shigeko Yasuda, shortly after the two joined the Gotei 13 together, Ginkōgō finally regained her memories as a result of Shigeko's Reiatsu; this triggered a brutal conflict between the two branches of the Kusahara Clan which also made Ginkōgō aware of the clan's nobility. Fending off her own clansmen, Ginkōgō challenged Ginkōgō Kusahara VI and convinced her to relinquish her title after earning her respect. Sometime after becoming the seventh Ginkōgō Kusahara, Ginkōgō defected from the Gotei 13 and left for the Human World in search of Shigeko to make sense of her reoccurring visions. During one of her hunts for Shigeko, Ginkōgō was reunited with Roshan and became one of his students, honing the power she had neglected for most of her life. After Soul Society's most recent war against Wandenreich, Ginkōgō rejoined the Gotei 13 and was quickly promoted as one of its Captains even though her Quincy heritage was well known at this point. Ginkōgō's greatest aspiration for becoming a Captain was to cleanse the name of her clan while rebelling against her former organization despite often questioning her true loyalties. Appearance Personality Externally, Ginkōgō is a quiet and thoughtful individual, seemingly unfocused even when attending important events. Her aloof and silent nature, along with her nobility, gives her an aristocratic aura that makes her seem unapproachable in the eyes of onlookers. In reality, Ginkōgō is merely a deep thinker who finds it difficult to voice her concerns to others. Having been raised from an outcast branch of her family, Ginkōgō is, while still graceful in posture and speech, far more casual in behavior than one might initially believe and approaches everyone with benevolence regardless of status. She is a loyal guardian of her loved ones and allies who places powerful bonds above all else. While seldom speaking unless spoken to or the situation demands it, Ginkōgō is consistently friendly when speaking to those who are willing to approach her, even when troubled. Preferring to address the issues of others rather than her own, she is especially interested in learning as much about her allies as possible, no matter how insignificant the detail; she is often seen by others as overly inquisitive, a trait which often leads to embarrassing situations for her. As seen with her interactions with Glacies Fidus, especially bizarre individuals are often repeatedly pestered with insignificant questions from her, usually out of strong curiosity rather than suspicion or any other sort of ill will. While not particularly blunt, Ginkōgō's tendency to casually address issues of a sensitive nature does make her seem detached from detached from even the most dire of situations which do not strongly involve her. Her honesty and former experiences as a Quincy have encouraged her to think objectively even if doing so would anger others around her. Consequently, she is a somewhat cynical, yet persuasive speaker who can effectively express her views on any subject even if she prefers not to do so. In the eyes of the unobservant, Ginkōgō is often viewed as an apathetic woman who simply converses and exchanges pleasantries with others purely out of boredom rather than concern or pity. Since regaining her memories and consequently restoring her status as a Quincy, Ginkōgō is plagued with a sense of isolation as one of the the few Quincy within the Gotei 13 and seeks reprieve through the company of close friends, explaining her tendency to remain silent unless she is approached. Even so, Ginkōgō fears that her longing to be reunited with her Quincy allies, those of whom she feels she truly belongs with, may prompt her to one day betray her Shinigami allies despite her fierce loyalty to them, openly admitting that she would likely do so if given a practical opportunity; effectively, Ginkōgō believes that she may not be in full control of her own actions in the future disregarding her current beliefs, hinting at her mild form of depersonalization disorder. Her resolve to live through whatever path her actions may take her nevertheless allows her to fight fiercely for her current allies even knowing that she may one day betray them. Indeed, it may very well be a drive to remain as rigid as possible that brings her ever closer to her friends and family of the present. Ginkōgō's open-minded nature allows her to see the best in others even if she is at odds with them. When interacting with friends, she is capable of overlooking even major disagreements and believes that even the closest of friends will occasionally need to overcome their differences. While Ginkōgō cares little for tradition herself, she remains accepting of the traditions of others and even sometimes adopts the traditions of her closest friends as her own, if only to strengthen a bond. While Ginkōgō believes the use of honorifics to be redundant and tedious, especially after regaining her old demeanor as a Quincy, she is still open to formally addressing her peers so long as someone is within hearing distance; ironically, she is wary around those who disrespect their superiors in any way, even simply failing to address them formerly. Likewise, she adheres to the Kusahara belief that killing one's enemies forever corrupts the soul and thus developed a fighting style entirely focused upon efficiently incapacitating opponents without killing them. She does still harbor some of her Quincy biases despite her attempts to adopt a philosophy more agreeable with that of Soul Society's guardians, as seen with her initial disdain for her Arrancar Lieutenant. Despite her reluctance to kill, does not particularly care for the lives of her enemies and does not intervene in their deaths as long as she is not the one directly responsible. As a sworn guardian of her allies, Ginkōgō opposes her enemies without the slightest hint of fear or doubt. She is confident enough in her abilities that she believes herself capable of providing aid against even the strongest of enemies, and thus fearlessly opposes any foe regardless of how powerful they are. While by no means an elitist, Ginkōgō believes that only the strong are capable of surviving independently, fueling her desire to protect those not capable of protecting themselves. While acknowledging that there are some feats that are beyond her capabilities, and consequently some tasks that her skills are simply insufficient to perform, she is absolutely loyal to her cause even when believing that it will likely end in failure or even her own death; forfeiting, in her eyes, is the same as dying, for it denies one the opportunity to live fully by their own ambitions. She is a daring and strong-willed woman who would risk her life even for innocent bystanders if just to remain true to her beliefs. In her free time, Ginkōgō primarily enjoys taking long walks and daydreaming in solitude, most often before or during important events. While generally considered naïve or inexperienced for her age, Ginkōgō is highly knowledgeable for a Shinigami Captain and possibly more powerful than she seems, but de-emphasizes the extent of her wisdom until a demanding situation arises despite how suspicious it may seem to her allies. While not commonly known due to her reticent nature, Ginkōgō is a lifelong musician and is proficient with a number of musical instruments, most notably the flute, with which she was encouraged to practice after bonding with Rikuri. History Powers and Abilities Natural Abilities Hohō Hakuda Kidō Quincy Abilities Right Arm Ryūkami Hanekake Relationships Shigeko Yasuda Rikuri Ukitake Roshan Bamshad Asuka Shimizu Quotes (To Shigeko Yasuda) "All I'd ever thought about as I honed my skills was a life in servitude to my family and to my allies. Why do I so often find myself pointing my sword at those very people I'd sworn to protect?" (To Hein Ueda regarding Rikuri Ukitake) "When I was first accepted into the Kusahara Clan, I was a defeated Quincy who had lost nearly everything in the war, including her life, too young and careless to even know what those things meant to her until it was too late. And even then, nothing had changed—I was just an unaspiring peasant living day-by-day, and I didn't even know why—what meant so much to me that I could live a life I should never have been given. But everything changed when I met her. I was accepted into the Ukitake Clan; I had wealth, freedom, and both a sister and a mentor. It had never crossed my mind to say anything of what I really was—or am—but I never thought it could tear us apart. If I had, maybe I would have run away, or maybe I'd be willing to die by her hands. But I'm not going to dwell on the past, not anymore. Right here, right now, I'm just looking for an answer, a way I can know... that I have the power to make someone believe in me. Then just maybe I can know for sure... I wasn't meant to die back then." Trivia * Images drawn by the author.